Window operator

ABSTRACT

A window operator and assembly method therefor wherein a stacked pull arm and gear are rotatably mounted on a bushing carried by a mounting base and the gear and pull arm are assembled to the mounting base with a controlled clearance independent of the tolerance of these components by use of a hardened metal bushing. The hardened metal bushing is forced into the deformable metal of the mounting base whatever distance is necessary to locate an exposed end of the bushing a fixed distance beyond the uppermost of said gear and pull arm and provide a surface against which a washer may be mounted and which overlies the pull arm and gear to hold the components in assembled relation with the controlled clearance.

CROSS REFERENCE

This is a division of Ser. No. 187,429, filed Apr. 28, 1988, now U.S.Pat. No. 4,843,703 which is a continuation-in-part of our co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 070,411, filed July 7, 1987 now U.S. Pat. No.4,845, entitled "Window Operator and Assembly Method".

1. Field of the Invention

This invention pertains to a window operator and a method of assemblythereof utilizing a metal bushing on which stacked rotatable componentsare mounted and which is forced into the deformable metal of a mountingbase to provide a controlled clearance for the stacked components andreduce play which would otherwise occur because of a build-up oftolerances of the components.

2. Background of the Invention

Manually operable window operators for casement and awning type windowsare well known in the art. It is typical of such a window operator tohave a mounting base which rotatably mounts a gear and pull arm. Thegear meshes with a worm gear on a worm shaft having a handle affixedthereto and a pull arm is operatively connected to a window wherebyrotation of the worm shaft results in rotation of the gear and the pullarm for window movement.

In a specific form of window operator of this type, a pin extendingupwardly through a recess in the mounting base mounts a bushing and astacked assembly of the gear and pull arm each having an opening arerotatably associated with the mounting base by positioning on thebushing. A washer is secured to the pin in overlying relation to thegear and pull arm to complete the assembly of the window operator Theassociation of the washer with the pin must be at a location lengthwiseof the pin to take into account the extreme amounts of toleranceresulting from tolerance variations in the thickness of the blank fromwhich the gear is made and the thickness of the metal from which thepull arm is formed. This can result in a window operator having aconsiderable amount of play axially of the bushing which is undesirablein a window operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary feature of the invention is to provide a window operator and amethod for assembling such operator wherein the stacked components areassembled with a controlled clearance to reduce play therebetween and byuse of a metal bushing about which a gear and pull arm of the windowoperator may rotate and which is forced into the deformable metal of amounting base of the operator to establish a controlled distance of anexposed end of the bushing beyond the stacked gear and pull arm. Awasher is fixed to a mounting pin to overlie the stacked gear and pullarm and in abutting relation with the exposed end of the bushing toachieve a controlled clearance determined by the extent to which thebushing has been forced into the mounting base.

An object of the invention is to provide a method of assembling astacked pull arm and gear of a window operator to a mounting base ofdeformable metal with a controlled clearance for rotational movement ofthe pull arm and gear about a pin associated with the mounting basewithout excessive play and with said pull arm and gear each having amounting opening comprising, positioning a hardened metal bushing onsaid pin and in said openings of the pull arm and gear with one end ofthe bushing in a recess in said mounting base and the other endextending beyond the gear and pull arm, and exerting a force on saidother end of the bushing to force said one end of the hardened metalbushing into the deformable metal of the mounting base to advance saidother end until said other end extends beyond said gear and pull arm apredetermined distance, and fixing a washer to said pin in engagementwith said other end of the hardened metal bushing and overlying the gearand pull arm to hold the gear and pull arm in assembled relation withthe mounting base.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a method as definedin the preceding paragraph wherein the forcing of the hardened metalbushing into the metal of the mounting base causes a flow of thedeformed metal and the end of the bushing has a bevel to provide a spaceinto which the deformed metal may flow.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a window operatorhaving controlled clearance between components, said componentsincluding a mounting base of deformable metal, a gear and a pull armeach having an opening and which are in stacked relation, a pin fixed tothe mounting base, a hardened metal bushing on said pin and extendedthrough said openings, and a washer fitted onto said pin and engagingsaid bushing, said hardened metal bushing having a bevelled end pressedinto and deforming the metal of said mounting base to have an exposedend of the hardened metal bushing a predetermined distance beyond theuppermost of said stacked gear and pull arm.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a seat for thehardened metal bushing in the mounting base that is readily deformableto facilitate locking of the bushing to the mounting base and pinwithout weakening the mounting base. The seat, in cross section, has anupwardly opening, U-shaped configuration with an opening in the basewall of the U to permit passage therethrough of the pin. At least onerecess is formed in the base wall of the U to provide a space for theflow of the deformable metal of the mounting base upon the hardenedmetal bushing being forcibly urged against the base wall of the seatduring assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the window operator with a handle omitted;

FIG. 2 is front elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 1 withparts broken away and shown in section;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of that part of FIG. 2 which is shown brokenaway and in section;

FIG. 4 is a central sectional view of the hardened metal bushing on thescale of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of window operator,according to the invention, with a handle omitted; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of a seat for thehardened metal bushing taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The window operator is shown generally in FIGS. 1 and 2 and has amounting base 10 formed of a deformable metal such as zinc and which,for ease of manufacture, is formed for mounting of components to provideeither a right hand or left hand operator with a left hand operatorbeing shown in the drawings. The disclosed window operator is formounting under a window sill cover and thus being hidden from view doesnot require a cover although the principles of the invention disclosedherein are applicable to exposed window operators having a cover. Themounting base 10 has openings 12 for receiving fasteners which attachthe mounting base to window framing and a central upwardly angledgenerally tubular section 14 which rotatably mounts a worm gear shaft 16having an exposed end to which a handle can be mounted and having a wormgear 18 exposed through open sides of the tubular section 14 for meshingwith a gear 20. Rotation of the worm gear 18 causes rotation of the gear20 with resulting rotation of a pull arm 22 which has a drag linkpivotally connected thereto at a pivot connection 26. The drag link 24has a keeper sub-assembly 28 at a free end thereof to enable connectionof the drag link to a slide or other member associated with the window.Such a keeper structure is well known in the art and is of the typeshown

in Armstrong Patent No. 3,461,609. Alternatively, a snap-stud connectioncan be used to releasably retain the end of the drag link 24 on theslide or other member on the window sash. The snap-stud connectionreferrred to is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,341, toSandberg et al.

The gear 20 and pull arm 22 are rotatably mounted on the mounting base10 by structure shown particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The mounting base has a perimetral flange 32 to provide a raised basepanel 34 with a downwardly formed section 36 having a recess 38 and anend wall with an opening 40. A pin 44 extends through the opening 40 andhas a head 46 abutting the formed section 36. A hardened symmetricalmetal bushing 50 surrounds the pin 44 and has one end 52 engaged withthe formed section 36 of the housing 10 and the other end 54 ispositioned slightly above the upper surface of the pull arm 22. The gear20 has an opening 58 to mount the gear on the bushing 50 and the pullarm 22 has a slightly larger opening 60 to enable positioning thereof insurrounding relation to the bushing 50.

A washer 62 is positioned on the pin 44 in overlying relation to thepull arm 22 which is the uppermost component of the stacked pull arm andgear and engages the end 54 of the bushing and is held in assembledrelation by a deformed end 66 of the pin which can be deformed by a spinoperation known in the art.

The gear 20 and pull arm 22 are interconnected for rotation together bya pair of slugs 70 and 72 fitted in openings in the pull arm 22 andwhich depend downwardly from the lower surface thereof to engage inopenings in the gear 20. The slug 70 is generally rectangular andengages in a generally rectangular slot 74 in the gear and a secondopening in the gear receives the slug 72.

The gear 20 is formed from a gear blank and the pull arm 22 is formedfrom a sheet of metal such as steel and with there being tolerancevariations in the thickness of both the gear blank and the metal sheet.In order to avoid play in the gear and pull arm which could result froman assembly of the window operator with the washer 62 at a predeterminedfixed distance from the head 46 of the pin which is set to take intoaccount maximum thickness of the gear end pull arm, the novel method ofassembly provides for use of the hardened metal bushing 50. The metalbushing can have the end 52 thereof forced into the deformable metal ofthe mounting base 10 until the end 54 of the bushing is a predetermineddistance beyond the upper face of the pull arm 22. This establishes acontrolled clearance wherein the tolerance of each of the gear and pullarm is not critical.

More particularly, the assembly method comprises pre-pressing thebushing 50 into the recess 38 so that the lower end 52 of the bushing 50is above the bottom 53 of the recess 38 and thereafter assembling thepin 44 on the mounting base 10 and the gear 20 and pull arm 22 on thebushing. Pre-pressing of the metal bushing assures that the bushing issituated in as near vertical position as possible. The pre-pressedbushing 50 also provides a stable mount for the pin 44, gear 20, andpull arm 22. By means of a tool or manually, a force is then exerted onthe end 54 of the bushing and reacted by the head 46 of the pin engaginga support surface and sufficient force is applied to cause advance ofthe lower end 52 of the bushing into the deformable metal of the baseuntil the end 54 of the bushing extends beyond the upper face of theform 22 a predetermined distance, such as 0.005 inches, for example. Thewasher 62 is then applied to the pin and fixed thereto by deforming theend 66 of the pin 44. With this assembly method, variations in thetolerance of the gear and pull arm are not critical and in assemblingeach window operator, the bushing 50 can be advanced whatever distanceis necessary to provide the controlled projection of the end 54 thereof.The operation is enhanced by providing internal and external bevels 80at each end of the bushing 50 whereby either end of the bushing can beinitially inserted into the recess 38 of the mounting base. The bevelsprovide a space for flow of deformable zinc or other metal of themounting base as seen in FIG. 3 with resulting locking of the bushing tothe mounting base and to the pin 44.

Alternatively, the pin can be initially assembled to the mounting baseafter which the bushing 50 is positioned on the pin 44 and the gear 20and pull arm 22 are mounted on the bushing 50. A force is then exertedon the bushing end 54 to effect deformation thereof in the same manneras described in the preceding paragraph.

As mentioned previously, the exposed end of the hardened metal bushingcan be, for example, 0.005" above the stacked pull arm and gear. Thisprovides for adequate freedom of rotation of the pull arm and gear. Inthe prior art structure there could be a tolerance build-up of 0.028"and allowance for this could result in excessive play in the componentsof the window operator

A modified form of mounting base 110 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The base110 is the same as the base 10 previously described in all respects withthe exception of the configuration of the wall 112 at the bottom of therecess 138 in the mounting base 110 defining the seat for the pin 44 andhardened metal bushing 50. The recess 138 has an upwardly openingU-shape in cross section with the bottom wall 112 at the base of the Uhaving an opening 140 to facilitate passage therethrough of the pin 44.

The upwardly facing surface 144 of the wall 112 has a plurality ofradially outwardly opening V-shaped recesses 146 formed therein of adepth equal to less than one half the thickness of the wall 112. In theembodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, multiple recesses 146 are shownequidistantly spaced around the wall 112.

Assembly of the window operator is carried out in the same manner aswith the embodiment in FIGS. 1-4. Upon the bushing lower end 52 engagingthe upwardly facing surface 144 of the base 110 and being pressedforcibly downwardly thereagainst, raised portions 148 of wall 112between adjacent recesses 146 are deformed so as to flow into therecesses 146 with resulting locking of the bushing 50 to the mountingbase 110 and pin 44.

The recesses 146 in combination with raised portions 148 facilitateassembly of the operator without causing detrimental weakening of thewall 112. The recesses 146 and raised portions 148 are particularlyadvantageous where the mounting base 110 is made from a relativelydeformable metal, for example, a zinc die casting. During the assemblyprocess, pressure from the bushing lower end 52 is alleviated by coldflow of the raised portions 148 into adjacent recesses 146.

We claim:
 1. A window operator having controlled clearance betweencomponents, said components including a mounting base of deformablemetal, a gear and a pull arm each having an opening and which are instacked relation, a pin fixed to the mounting base, a hardened metalbushing on said pin and extended through said openings, and a washerfitted onto said pin and engaging said bushing, said hardened metalbushing having a bevelled end pressed into and deforming the metal ofsaid mounting base to have an exposed end of the hardened metal bushinga predetermined distance beyond the uppermost of said stacked gear andpull arm.
 2. The window operator of claim 1 wherein said mounting basehas a wall which is deformed by the bushing and the wall has a Crecessdefining a space into which the mounting base metal flows upon said wallbeing deformed by the bushing.
 3. The window operator of claim 2 whereinthere are a plurality of said recesses in a circular array to underliethe bevelled end of said hardened metal bushing.